Running for Portage

When you have children, you hope and pray that everything will be ok. That they will be born healthy and grow up just like everyone else.

When our second daughter, Imogen, was born that’s exactly how we felt. But when Immy was about 1 year old we realised that she was having significant difficulty sitting up, walking and talking. Nagging doubts turned into fully blown concerns and soon we were being referred to paediatricians and attending medical appointments to see what might be going on.

We were worried sick. Would she ever walk and talk? Would she always need extra support in life? Is this because of something we’ve failed to do as parents? We’re not the most laid back of parents anyway… this stressed us out more than we ever thought possible.

But nobody can give you an answer. There was no obvious cause. All we could do was wait and see.

Amidst this anxiety, we started to be visited by “Su” from a charity called Portage. Su was amazing. She came every week for an hour and worked with Imogen to develop her abilities. While the doctors, physios and speech therapists could only visit occasionally. Su was there every week, without fail, to improve Imogen’s skills, give us advice and help reassure us that it would be ok.

That helped a lot.

Imogen, big sister Hannah, and Su from Portage

Imogen is 3 now, she’s walking a lot more steadily and she’s starting to say things that almost sound like words you would recognise. She’s still very behind but she’s doing ok. She’s also one of the happiest and most affectionate children I’ve ever known. We have a laugh together, me and Imms.

But I’d like give something back to Portage for helping us out as a family over the past year or two. The’ve helped us so much it’s the least I could do.

So I’ve decided to run the Bupa Great Birmingham Run this October to raise money for the National Portage Association. I’ve never run a half marathon before. Actually, I’ve never run more than 6k before. It’s going to be a bloody hard work! (You can follow my training here). This is what I looked like after that last run:

As you can see, I’ve a long way to go. But here’s the thing: if you sponsor me, you’ll not only be helping more families can get the kind of support that we’ve been so fortunate to receive, you’ll also motivate me to keep going!

Please help me to support this charity by visiting my Just Giving page and making a donation.